Beware the discount agent that promises the world…

Getting the best result for your property when selling is 100% based on the agent you choose for the job.

Unfortunately many home owners approach the task of selecting an agent with criteria based on the promise of a high price vs. the most economical fees and charges. It happens quite often, the agent that states the highest price and offers the cheapest marketing and commission gets the job, provides poor service, achieves a poor result and then the owner ends up upset and wondering what they actually paid for.

The issue with this is that agent discounting their costs, fees and charges are usually doing so simply because they’re not very good. Sorry, it’s the truth. A lack of business or listings generally leads to desperation and discounting.

Owners may feel that an agent offering say a half percent less than another agent is going to save them money but think about this first;

It’s probably fair to say that the agent a person chooses will have an impact on the final sale price?

With this in mind if an agent can affect the sale price, you would want the one who is the best negotiator.

So would you expect the agent capable of getting you the best price to have a higher or a lower commission than other agents?

The issue of people selecting the wrong agents is being further compounded by the emergence of sites claiming to assist with agent selection. Sites such as ‘open agent’ profess to have the best agents on their books, all you have to do as a seller is provide your details and they will find the best agent for you. The truth is once they get your details they then shop the lead around to agents who are willing to part with 20% of their commission to buy your details. Once again the bad agents are the only members of these sites and the owner ends up getting the short end of the stick.

Owners should avoid these sites.

There are some great real estate agents out there, ones that do the right thing and back that up by producing good results.

Here’s a list of the top 7 questions to ask agents when you are interviewing them;

What is the agents list to sell ratio. How many homes that they list, actually sell?

What is their professional development budget. How much do they invest in themselves?

Ask for the details and contact details of the last 10 people that they have sold for

What is their average days on market?

What type of reporting will they be providing on a weekly, daily basis?

Will they be working the listing themselves or outsourcing this to another agent?

What is their average selling price compared to other agents in the area?